Neuralink, a firm developing a brain-computer interface

Neuralink, founded by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, plans to conduct its first human experiment this year, Musk said in San Francisco.

Musk stated, "it's looking like the first case will be later this year," when speaking at the VivaTech trade fair in Paris late on Friday.

Neuralink's first-in-human clinical research, in which patients will have a Neuralink device implanted in their brains, was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last month.

Neuralink is happy to announce that the Food and Drug Administration has given its blessing to their first clinical trial involving humans. "This is the result of incredible work by the Neuralink team in close collaboration with the FDA and represents an important first step that will one day allow our technology to help many people," it continued.

Musk also tweeted congratulations to the Neuralink team on their FDA approval.

Neuralink's application to implant a chip into a human brain was denied by the FDA in March due to concerns about the procedure's safety.

Musk said in December 2017 that after testing the Neuralink gadget on pigs and monkeys, it would be ready for human trials in roughly six months.

Yet, Musk's Neuralink wouldn't be the first attempt to link the human brain with a computer.

Synchron, a competitor to Neuralink, began human testing in May of last year, with six severely paralyzed patients in the United States.